Search results for "multiple sclerosis"
showing 10 items of 630 documents
A simplified framework to optimize MRI contrast preparation
2018
PURPOSE This article proposes a rigorous optimal control framework for the design of preparation schemes that optimize MRI contrast based on relaxation time differences. METHODS Compared to previous optimal contrast preparation schemes, a drastic reduction of the optimization parameter number is performed. The preparation scheme is defined as a combination of several block pulses whose flip angles, phase terms and inter-pulse delays are optimized to control the magnetization evolution. RESULTS The proposed approach reduces the computation time of B 0 -robust preparation schemes to around a minute (whereas several hours were required with previous schemes), with negligible performance loss. …
Fingolimod as a Treatment in Neurologic Disorders Beyond Multiple Sclerosis
2020
Abstract Fingolimod is an approved treatment for relapsing–remitting multiple sclerosis (MS), and its properties in different pathways have raised interest in therapy research for other neurodegenerative diseases. Fingolimod is an agonist of sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) receptors. Its main pharmacologic effect is immunomodulation by lymphocyte homing, thereby reducing the numbers of T and B cells in circulation. Because of the ubiquitous expression of S1P receptors, other effects have also been described. Here, we review preclinical experiments evaluating the effects of treatment with fingolimod in neurodegenerative diseases other than MS, such as Alzheimer’s disease or epilepsy. Fingolimo…
Psychopathology of Alexithymia and Multiple Sclerosis
2015
The notion of alexithymia was introduced by Sifneos (Psychother Psychosom 22:255–62, 1973) to define a set of affective and cognitive characteristics observed in patients with psychosomatic diseases. Alexithymia appears to be a multidimensional and transnosographic concept ranging from normal to pathological, and it is important to regard alexithymia as a disorder of emotional regulation, which can be found in different populations and not only in somatic diseases.
Gender-related effect of clinical and genetic variables on the cognitive impairment in multiple sclerosis
2004
BACKGROUND: Cognitive impairment may occur at any time during the course of multiple sclerosis (MS), and it is often a major cause of disability in patients with the disease. The APOE-epsilon4 allele is the major known genetic risk factor for late onset familial and sporadic Alzheimer's Disease (AD), and it seems to be implicated in cognitive decline in normal elderly persons. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the clinical and genetic variables that can be associated with the cognitive decline in patients with MS. METHODS: Five-hundred and three patients with clinically definite MS underwent a battery of neuropsychological tests and, according to the number of failed tests, were divided into cognit…
APOE epsilon variation in multiple sclerosis susceptibility and disease severity: some answers
2006
Background: Previous studies have examined the role of APOE variation in multiple sclerosis (MS), but have lacked the statistical power to detect modest genetic influences on risk and disease severity. The meta- and pooled analyses presented here utilize the largest collection, to date, of MS cases, controls, and families genotyped for the APOE epsilon polymorphism. Methods: Studies of MS and APOE were identified by searches of PubMed, Biosis, Web of Science, Cochrane Review, and Embase. When possible, authors were contacted for individual genotype data. Meta-analyses of MS case-control data and family-based analyses were performed to assess the association of APOE epsilon genotype with dis…
Genetics and novel aspects of therapies in systemic lupus erythematosus.
2015
Autoimmune diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, autoimmune hepatitis and inflammatory bowel disease, have complex pathogeneses and the factors which cause these disorders are not well understood. But all have in common that they arise from a dysfunction of the immune system, interpreting self components as foreign antigens. Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is one of these complex inflammatory disorders that mainly affects women and can lead to inflammation and severe damage of virtually any tissue and organ. Recently, the application of advanced techniques of genome-wide scanning revealed more genetic information about SLE than previously possible. These case-contro…
Role of Hsp70 in Multiple Sclerosis: An Overview
2019
For many years heat shock protein 70 (Hsp70) was considered exclusively an intracellular chaperone contributing to protein proteostasis and in apoptotic pathway block. Lately it has been demonstrated that Hsp70 is actively released in the extracellular environment, thereby promoting the activation of the immune system by stimulating innate and adaptive responses through the activation of APCs. Its expression in the nervous system is induced in a variety of pathological conditions. Emerging evidences displayed that Hsp70 is a critical regulator in normal neural cells. Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disease of the central nervous system (CNS) directed against myelin antigens. In thi…
Hsp70 and Its Molecular Role in Nervous System Diseases
2011
Heat shock proteins (HSPs) are induced in response to many injuries including stroke, neurodegenerative disease, epilepsy, and trauma. The overexpression of one HSP in particular, Hsp70, serves a protective role in several different models of nervous system injury, but has also been linked to a deleterious role in some diseases. Hsp70 functions as a chaperone and protects neurons from protein aggregation and toxicity (Parkinson disease, Alzheimer disease, polyglutamine diseases, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), protects cells from apoptosis (Parkinson disease), is a stress marker (temporal lobe epilepsy), protects cells from inflammation (cerebral ischemic injury), has an adjuvant role i…
Natural Triterpene Glycosides for Antibody Recognition
2016
Multiple sclerosis is an autoimmune disease that affects the central nervous system. The key role of the glycosylation in disease pathogenesis has been previously studied and the synthetic N-glucosylated peptide CSF114(Glc) proved its efficiency in autoantibody recognition in the sera of multiple sclerosis patients. Herein, pure natural triterpene glycosides containing different glycosyl moieties were isolated and tested in multiple sclerosis patientsʼ sera to better understand the role of glycosylation. They were selected taking into account the nature and complexity of their osidic part. Five triterpene glycosides were isolated from several plants with more than 95 % purity. The interacti…
The matricellular protein SPARC supports follicular dendritic cell networking toward Th17 responses.
2011
Abstract Lymphnode swelling during immune responses is a transient, finely regulated tissue rearrangement, accomplished with the participation of the extracellular matrix. Here we show that murine and human reactive lymph nodes express SPARC in the germinal centres. Defective follicular dendritic cell networking in SPARC-deficient mice is accompanied by a severe delay in the arrangement of germinal centres and development of humoral autoimmunity, events that are linked to Th17 development. SPARC is required for the optimal and rapid differentiation of Th17 cells, accordingly we show delayed development of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis whose pathogenesis involves Th17. Not only h…